knit like the wind

Coming up to the holidays, I had a lot on my plate. I had to study for a big final exam for one class, and write a 10 page paper, prepare a 5 minute presentation, and finish a take home final exam for another class. So all that left very little time for knitting (and blogging about knitting). But knitting had to be done. I wanted to give Bickie's preschool teachers (all 5 of them) hand knitted end of the year gifts. I'm quite pleased with the resulting collection, though there were a few missteps along the way.


Top row (left to right) - Fingerless Mitts, Fuzzy Scarf, Cabled Neckwarmer
Bottom row - Boucle Hat, Striped Wooly Hat

The Fingerless Mitts were the most time consuming, partly because I had to rip out to the thumb on one of them. I had thought that my yarn was giving me larger gauge, so I made a smaller thumb hole and thumb. But it ended up much too small. I should have just followed the pattern. Which, BTW, was Dashing from Knitty. So I did follow the pattern for the second one, it turned out perfect, so I ripped back the first one and redid it to pattern specs. One thing I did change from the pattern was the length of the arm. I just shortened it a bunch, mainly to make knitting it quicker. I was short on time.



I'm really happy with how they turned out in the end, I might actually make myself a pair. They were knit for a guy, and I had my husband and brother both try them on to make sure they'd fit a guy, and they did, but these are my petite lady hands modeling here. They actually fit me pretty good too, though I'd probably knit a smaller size for myself. For these I used the first yarn I ever bought, over 11 years ago, when I had my then-future MIL in New Zealand teach me to knit. It's a totally basic, hard-wearing undyed 100% wool called Thorobred Farms Stormy Ridge Station Triple Knit 12 ply. I bought a whole bunch of it for a sweater, and never finished it. I got halfway up the back and decided it was ugly. So I bound off, felted it, and I think ended up throwing it away. But I still have a whole bunch of this yarn left. I could make 50 pairs of these mitts.

The Fuzzy Scarf was just a made up pattern. I have all this feathery yarn that I got from the 2006 Boston Knit Out for registering my blog with them. A whole bag of it. But I don't know what I'd make out of a whole bag of nylon eyelash yarn. So I knit it with a strand of Jaggerspun Zephyr on size 19 needles. Knit, knit knit. Knit, knit, knit. It became a scarf.



Kinda cute, right? I made the ends wider than the middle, because I cast on too many to begin with (20 stitches) and thought it would be too wide, and take too long to knit. Have I mentioned I was in a rush?

For the neckwarmer, I followed this pattern. I really like it, and the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky is super soft. The only thing I would change is to make the next one a bit tighter. This is just a bit too loose. So I would take out one repeat of the cable I think.



And then there're the hats. The first one, in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakhan, is totally cute, right?



I copied this idea to do the Tychus pattern from Knitty in this boucle yarn. I took Knerq's suggestion to start with 26 stitches, but it was still too short on me, so I added a garter stitch border, plus a picot cast off. It used almost exactly one ball of the yarn.

Last but not least was the Noro Big Kureyon Hat.



I used the Zen String Pro Bono pattern exactly. It ended up a bit short. Or a bit long, depending on how you'd want to wear it. Enough on me for a tiny little rolled edge. But too long to wear down. Oh well. Considering I started and finished it in the 2 and a half hours between dropping Bickie off and picking her up on the last day of school before break (the last chance to give the gifts) I think it's pretty awesome.

So that was my knitting world for a bit. I took a day off, and then started a pair of warm wooly socks for the hubby for xmas. I finished one just in time, so I had something to give him. LOL I'm working on the second now. I show you the pair once I've finished.